EDST2002: Professional Engagement

7x Forum posts on 7 key standards and 7 responses to other students posts. Hurdle task.

None, prerequisites were all 1st-year courses and EDST2003

I was really excited and keen for this course and come out of it disappointed. It is 15 days of observation and in my case, I didn’t really end up doing a lot (especially at the start of the placement). This ended up getting really boring towards the end when I wanted to be able to take a small class. As this is only observation, you are able to be placed away from your method area: I was in TAS for the first two weeks mainly observing woodwork classes. I found it depended on which school you had been given on what you did as each of my friends had a different experience (and therefore things observed/able to do) during the course.

The communication and organisation of this course was minimal, delayed and sometimes confusing. We expected to know our schools during the holidays, except were only told in week 3. Apart from the 4 hour orientation lecture, we had hardly any communication with the uni.

This is a pass/fail course ad the assessments (blog posts) are based on the AITSL teaching standards. Most of the time, these were easy to write, however some of them were annoying specific (in one, we had to write down specific questions the teachers had asked).
Most of my experiences in the creative arts faculty were interesting. I was able to observe music, art, dance, and sport and see the different teaching styles. I also observed lunchtime music groups such as string ensemble, choir and rock bands, how the hall was set up for music/art events and how they organised excursions and assessments. I was able to see how the school was different to my own and that influenced the way subjects were taught. Most teachers were really helpful in explaining why they did certain things and how they organised the classroom. At times, I was asked to help such as getting the class to pack up but the year 8’s didn’t really listen to me, which was frustrating as I didn't have the skill or knowledge yet to effectively manage a class.

4-hour orientation at the beginning of the trimester. 15 days of 8:30-4 placement (normally 2 days per week).

0.5 /5

No

N/A

None.

3.5 /5

None

2019 T3

Satisfactory (SY) (No marks given)

7x Forum posts on 7 key standards (~300 each) and 7x forum responses to other posts (~150 each) (HURDLE)

None, prerequisites were all 1st-year courses and EDST2003

The experience for each student is almost entirely up to the school you're given, so I can only give my experiences on the course.

For the university side of things, it was pretty horrendous, the release date for our schools was unbelievably delayed (Didn't get them until week 3) and the communication regarding when we would get them was also non-existent. Additionally, with the orientation lecture, 4 hours was probably a bit too much, but it did have pretty valuable information such as what we should be doing, and the completion of the anaphylaxis certificate. However, my problem stemmed from the fact that after this orientation, they did not provide us with the lecture recording OR the lecture slides even after asking through email. It was quite disappointing.

On the school side, I was quite fortunate to meet some extremely passionate and helpful teachers to the point where I was blown away with how willing they were to help me. For the most part, you will be sitting in the corner of the classroom, watching how the class behaves and how the teachers teach. At times, I was able to be a teacher's assistant (especially with science practicals) which gave me more hands-on experience and I was also able to help with reader/writer for exams. I was quite fortunate to also see the more paperwork based aspects of teaching which included the government system Sentral, and NESA's guidelines to accreditation, and especially shown the importance of being organised as a teacher. I was also given the opportunity to mark papers, and to put them into the school system (Turns out you have to put them into 3 different places!) and how report writing works. I was also allowed to participate in the school's social events, such as PE lessons and being a welcomer for a rewards ceremony.

Looking back on this, I'm quite pleased with what I was able to learn in 15 days, and my notes have some interesting tactics and resources that I'm keen to try out myself. Also, this was my first time witnessing what happens in a public school, and although it does seem like some classes are completely chaotic and at times scary, it does allow me to have a more realistic outlook on what teaching will be in the future, and it does allow me to have more appropriate plans when I do inevitably start teaching.

Overall, I was quite pleased with how much I had learnt through this, but maybe it was a bit lucky given I was given a school where the teachers were very helpful. Although I'm still outright nervous about the next practical, this has allowed me to prepare myself better for it.

4-hour orientation at the beginning of the trimester. 2x full day weekly practical engagement at a given school (8:30-4) (15 total)

0.5 /5

No

N/A

None from the University, varied with schools and your engagement with the school.

4.3 /5

None

2019 T3

Satisfactory (SY) (No marks given)